REVIEW by Elley: The Kiss That Launched 1,000 Gifs by Sheralyn Pratt

*** 2015 SWOONY Award Winner ***

Each weekday from 2:00-4:00 p.m., Grace and Ashton cohost Battle of the Sexes, a radio program arguing the he-said/she-said issues of the day. Their fiery debates often have listeners wondering if there’s more to their relationship than just talk, even though Grace has been dating Phillip, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Perfect, since long before she ever met Ashton Miller.

Yet when news comes that Battle of the Sexes is on the bubble for cancellation, Grace and Ashton need to step up their efforts to engage their audience to keep the show alive. When a charity organization approaches them and proposes that the two of them kiss for a fund raiser, Grace and Ash agree to kiss for a good cause. A kiss is just a kiss, right?

Elley’s Review

SQUEE. Such squee, I can’t even. This book left me doing a weird little goblin dance of joy and puffy hearts. This is a great opposites attract romance with an AMAZING one-sided/unrequited love (or is it?) that just GUTTED ME and made me turn into a jellyfish. A JELLYFISH.

While I tagged this one as a clean romance, there is PLENTY of chemistry and heat between Grace and Ash. I love their dynamic, and I also like the way Sherlyn Pratt manages to amp up the plot and tension (especially toward the end where Grace gets all these plot reveal bombs dropped on her like boom boom boom! Yesssss.) while keeping this a very low- to no-angst romance. Don’t get me wrong, there were still a few moments where I teared up, clutched my chest, and wailed “Noooo, my heart!” (just in my head, not out loud… sheesh) but overall this is a light, fun, cuddly read.

What’s more, Ash and Grace are so REAL. I found myself lying in bed the night after finishing this thinking of things I wanted to say weighing in on their discussion about the division of household chores/cooking vs. paying for things, as if they were real people and it was a real discussion that I’d been a part of, and I just hadn’t gotten the chance to get my point in but there would be an opportunity for a rebuttal. I had to keep reminding myself that marshaling my argument was pointless because these are characters in a book and I cannot actually talk to them. Like, more than once, internal me needed this reminder. That is how real these characters were to me and how deeply I connected with them, which is really saying something because I finished this book in one day.

While this is a stand-alone novel, I’m really excited to see that Sheralyn Pratt does seem to have another book about Grace’s awesome friend Esme, who is a side character in this book, called King of the Friend Zone. You’d better believe that’s on my TBR!

Disclaimer

The review copy of this book was borrowed by the reviewer via Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited reading program. All titles reviewed on this blog are a fair and honest assessment of the book. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this review. For more information regarding our review process, please visit our Review Policy & Review Request Submission page.